Ahead of the Curve

The lending environment is undergoing a worrying change. Funds that European direct lenders have raised but not yet deployed are at an all-time high and banks in most Western-European jurisdictions have renewed lending following years of reticence after the global financial crisis, leading to increased competition amongst lenders in the small and medium enterprise (SME) market.

Universal-Investment’s former MD Guhr dies

GERMAN Y – The former managing director of German asset manager Universal-Investment, Hans-Martin Guhr, has died at the age of 65.

The Frankfurt-based company said Guhr passed away in the night of July 14. “Guhr, who retired from Universal-Investment at the end of September 2002, was a member of the board of directors for more than 29 years, which made him the senior managing director in the German investment industry,” Universal said.

Guhr was a senior figure in the German funds industry and was involved in the BVI Bundesverband Investment und Asset Management and Deutsche Vereinigung fuer Finanzanalyse und Asset Management bodies.

Universal is the third largest manager of German pension assets, with around 8.7 billion euros of such assets under management..